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Oreo’s 'Gatsby'-themed tweet is a slam-dunk

It’s a pretty simple tweet: A photo of two halves of an Oreo, both somehow magically layered with crème, with eyes drawn on. The cookie edges along, with a few crumbs, form the frames of a pair of eyeglasses. The accompanying text says, “A great story calls for a great cookie.”

Nothing is spelled out, but within hours after the tweet was posted Friday, dozens of Twitter fans with some familiarity with F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” took notice, either retweeting or favoriting the message. They identified the image as the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg, the optometrist whose run-down billboard oversees many key events in the book.

The Twitter reaction to the post was overwhelmingly positive, patting Oreo on the back for its sly nod to fans of “The Great Gatsby,” a movie version of which opens Friday.

If someone wanted to be stick in the mud, he or she might say the billboard may not be the best symbol for a brand to tout, given that it represents the United States’ loss of spirituality in favor of rampant, empty commercialism.

Even so, it’s a clever image, and the slogan “Have a cookie, old sport” (adopting Gatsby's generic pet name for a friend) nails the fun tone Oreo managed when its Super Bowl blackout tweet gained it similar kudos.